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4.2
- Webinar No: WBNR-1147
- PDH Units: 2
Webinar No: WBNR-1147
PDH Units: 2
$139.00
4.2
- Webinar No: WBNR-1147
- PDH Units: 2
Webinar No: WBNR-1147
PDH Units: 2
$139.00
Intended Audience: All Engineers
Credits: 2 PDH Units
When: Thursday 9/7. 2 - 4 pm EST
We promise you a very special webinar . This is not your ordinary boring ethics webinar. We are very proud to bring this webinar to you. This Engineering Ethics Webinar on the tragic collapse of the World Trade Center towers first discusses the engineering aspects of design, construction, and the damage due to the planes’ impact and the ensuing fire. Then, Dr. Astaneh summarizes his findings of several weeks he spent in New York, supported by the National Science Foundation, to conduct reconnaissance and collection of perishable data and more than five years of analytical studies of the collapse that followed. The last part of the Webinar will focus on engineering ethics and discuss the ethical problems of the collapse investigation by a team organized by the American Society of Civil Engineers and funded by FEMA. Dr. Astaneh spent a year (2001-2002) investigating and documenting the debris from the WTC collapsed towers. Then, in May 2002, he testified before the Committee on Science of the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress on his findings. After hearing his testimony, the Committee on Science provided him with the drawings of the WTC Towers so he could continue his studies of the engineering aspects of the collapse. Unfortunately, the drawings of the WTC Towers were, and still are, under the seal, with no public access. Having received the drawings, Dr. Astaneh and his team of volunteers spent five years (2002-2007) and more than 4,000 hours performing structural analysis of the impact of airplanes on the north tower. The main conclusion of the studies was that the unique and unusual structural system used in the World Trade Center, which was “Steel Bearing Walls,” without a “framing system” used in both WTC towers, was at the root of their collapse. Because of the thin steel bearing walls, the airplane easily entered the towers almost intact. It delivered a large amount of jet fuel to the core of the building, starting a fire that caused a reduction in the strength of the outside Steel building, leading to the towers' collapse. References and Recommended Further Readings:
- World Trade Center Archives from Professor A. Astaneh, Website containing all of Professor Astaneh’s documents, photos, reports, PowerPoints, and other material he generated for his investigation of the World Trade Center collapse sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
- WTC Steel Wreckage at Claremont Scrapyard Feat. Dr. Astaneh-Asl,
- World Trade Center: Anatomy of the Collapse” (TLC, 2002) on DVD. com.
- Fresh Air’s Terry Gross Interview with Prof. Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl on His WTC Reconnaissance, Public Broadcasting System, 22:13 minutes Audio Broadcast
- WTC Hearing of Committee on Science of U.S. House of Representatives Hearing (with Dr. Astaneh-Asl testifying his findings),
- Code of Ethics for Professional Engineers, by National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)
- NSPE Ethics Reference Guide
- ASCE Code of Ethics
- Ethics, Technology, and Engineering, a textbook by Ibo van de Poel and Lambèr Royakkers, Wily-Blackwell, 2011.
- Concepts and Cases-Engineering Ethics, a textbook by Charles E. Harris et al., published by Cengage2019.
Date: Thursday. September 7. 2023. Starts: 2 - 4 pm EST/EDT Credits: 2 PDH Units
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of the course, the student should understand:- What was the “unusual” structural system of the World Trade Center Towers? It was a Steel Bearing Wall.
- What were the Fire Protection Systems in the WTC Towers, and were they adequate?
- Were the exits and staircases in the WTC Towers adequate for timely evacuation in case of a fire?
- Was the structure designed for the impact of a plane, as the designers claimed? It was not.
- Was there any evidence of an explosion or blast, as the conspiracy theorist claims? The answer is no.
- What was the engineering cause of the collapse?
- Would the same towers, designed using a known structural system instead of the unusual Steel Bearing Walls, survive the attack? The answer is yes.
- How the “conflict of interest” in the ASCE Building Performance Assessment Team members investigating the performance and tragic September 11, 2001 collapse of the World Trade Center towers prevented finding the actual engineering cause, which was the use of “Steel Bearing Wall” system, which was very vulnerable to fires.
The collapse was boiled down to fundamental structural engineering. I real really enjoyed it.
Informative course, although the ethical issues component of the presentation seemed to be more of a ‘throw-in’ towards the end. As a NYer who witnessed a number of funerals in the days and weeks that followed, and had the heartache of attending one, it resonated deeply.
I had no idea of the potential role that the design/detailing may have played in the collapse of the WTC Twin Towers until I took this course. The finite element model comparison of the aircraft striking the WTC versus a conventionally-framed alternative was particularly enlightening.
Overall a very good presentation but I thought the ethics issues were very weak. The PDH website on the other had was horrible and often not responsive
Very interesting presentation and i enjoyed the post presentation Q&A dialogue
Material presented was very informative. However, I would have liked to see a stronger tie to the Ethical Issues.
I finally figured out after how to get to the quiz for the seminar. Not easy. The certificate prints terrible. Lettering overlaps other lettering, the background should be on a light gray tone of sorts. You need to fix your site. I don’t think I will use you again for other courses.
Course was informative and revealing, although at times repetitive. Technical analysis seemed logical and fairly straightforward, although providing the designers’ rationale (if known) for choice of building structure approach (if other than cost-cutting and increasing rentable space) would have been helpful. Could be improved by clearer formatting of transitions with reference to introduction. Exchange at the end with an “interested party” was a bit defiant in response to very pointed (although ultimately not very compelling) questions. As an aside, I remember a presentation (before 2001) at a local ASCE branch meeting by former engineer for PANYNJ (chief engineer as I recall) regarding the 1993 bombing…I believe he was one of the group who managed to escape an elevator using car keys to cut through the wall into the bathroom.
The material presented was very interesting. I did not know anything about the structural design vs. typical design or about local building codes, etc. This was more of a structural webinar than an ethics webinar, but I was ok with that. I was unaware of the ethical issues the presenter shared, primarily regarding the investigation. Some of this was controversial. I thought the presenter got sidetracked when challenged about those issues, and a moderator might have limited that discussion.
Nice info I have never heard previously. Intriguing!
I won’t be taking any more courses from PDH source. The website is awkward and the opposite of intuitive. Finally got copies of the materials but never could download the certificate directly into my CEU file. Everyone else seems to have figured out how to do this, why not PDH Source.
This course showed in great detail the WTC construction design and its shortcomings that put public safety at risk. It further revealed the ethical issues during the investigation of the WTC colllapse.
I enjoyed it.
The webinar gave a detailed and well organized account of the engineering aspects of the design. It clearly indicated that the design elements and ethical decisions had a great contribution to the collapse in 2001. It was way more information than was ever released previously.
I found Dr. Astaneh to be quite an expert in the field of forensic engineering. In my opinon, the design firm ( John Skilling) at the end of the webinar was put to shame by Dr. Astaneh. Hands Down.
Charles Pillari